"Tongue well developed. Fore-wings with vein 10 rising separate;
anastomosing with 11 and 9 (forming double areole), or rising out of 11
and anastomosing with 9 (forming simple areole). Hind-wings with vein 5
fully developed, parallel to 4, 6, and 7 almost always stalked or
connate, 8 anastomosing with upper margin of cell from near base to
beyond middle, or sometimes approximated only and connected by a bar or
shortly anastomosing beyond middle." (Plate II., figs. 19 to 43.)
"A very large family distributed in equal plenty throughout all temperate
regions, but becoming scarcer within the tropics. The structure is very
uniform throughout, and the generic distinctions slight. Imago with body
slender, fore-wings usually broad.
"Ovum broad, oval, rather flattened with usually oval reticulations. Larva
elongate, slender, with few hairs, without prolegs on segments 7 to 9;
often imitating live or dead twigs and shoots. Pupa usually
subterranean."--(Meyrick.)
{39}This family is very extensively represented in New Zealand by the
following fifteen genera:--